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Twitch

This is Twitch’s minimum age. What do you think is the right age for this site? Share your thoughts

Twitch is a live video game website. You can watch playbacks of games being played by other people. You can also live stream your own games, and chat to other gamers. Users can follow channels and games they want to keep track of. Twitch allows live streaming.

What do I need to know about Twitch?

We've spoken to parents to find out what they think about Twitch. We've also asked children and young people what they think. Here's what they said:

Children’s views

What do children and young people dislike about it?

5% of the children and young people who reviewed Twitch
thought it was unsafe. The main things they told us they don’t like about Twitch were:

There are lots of adverts

People say rude things in their videos

It’s hard to censor because it’s live

What do children and young people like about it?

The main things that children and young people told us
they like about Twitch were:

You can learn how to play your favourite games

It’s entertaining

You can watch your favourite YouTubers

Is content on Twitch suitable for children and young people?

We asked parents and young people about the types of inappropriate content they’ve seen on Twitch. The level of risk is based on the % of respondents who reported seeing these types of content. The ratings are: Low Risk (less than 5% of respondents); Medium Risk (between 5 and 25%); and High Risk (over 25%, or more than one in four).

Sexual

Medium Risk

Violence & hatred

Medium Risk

Bullying

Medium Risk

Suicide & self-harm

Low Risk

Drink, drugs & crime

Medium Risk

What are people saying aboutTwitch?

Boy, 13

“It is quite vulgar as once it’s said, it’s gone and nobody can watch it again. This makes the streamer quite reckless about what they say which can lead to some upsetting things being said.”

18 year old

“The site can be both very safe and enjoyable, and also risky and vulgar depending on what content is selected. It’s great at separating these two sides of the site and allows users to select what content they want to access. The content is almost always live, meaning there is little/no censorship.”

Girl, 15

“It allows you to watch gaming streams/art streams etc.”

Father

“Twitch can be engaging but difficult to censor the individual chat.” – Father of 15 and 17 yr olds

Father

“Twitch is potentially exposing children to unsavoury types such as predators and bullies. Like other services it has community standards that you must follow, or else face being banned. You can also report other users for inappropriate behaviour.” – Father of 17 and 18 yr olds

Mother

“It’s a great website for watching people play games but I wouldn’t say it is suitable for children under 15.” – Mother of 9 and 12 yr olds

Twitch

"Welcome to a community where millions of people and thousands of interests collide in a beautiful explosion of video games, pop culture, and conversation. With chat built into every stream, you don’t just watch on Twitch, you’re a part of the show."

O2 Guru Top Tip for Twitch

O2 Guru Camilla says:

"Twitch lets you control whether you share your activity under
settings, account, and then presence."

Our
O2 NSPCC Online Safety Helpline can help you to set up parental controls,
adjust privacy settings or get advice on social networks. You can call us free
on 0808 800 5002.

For
face to face advice and support, you can also book a free in-store appointment
with an O2 Guru here (even if you’re not with O2).

What's the right age for Twitch?

13+

Twitch says

This is taken from Twitch’s own guidelines and is accurate as of March 2018.

14+

Our panel of parents say

Based on our independent panel of 2,049 parents, surveyed through YouGov in January 2018.

11+

Children say

Based on 2,059 responses from children and young people in November and December 2017.

11+

Net Aware visitors say

Based on 725 votes from parents who have visited this site – you can vote too!

What do you think?

Adjust the slider and tell us what you think is the right age to join Twitch:

Thank you!

We'll add your vote to the average rating.

Settings and features on Twitch

Signing up

We asked parents how
easy they thought it would be for a child to pretend to be older in order to
sign up to Twitch, and whether they had to verify their phone number or email
address. Based on these answers, Twitch
has received a neutral rating for its sign up process.

Here are some of the
things parents said:

“It
was very easy to register. I was asked for my date of birth but there was no
verification.” – Mother of 9 and 12 yr olds

“I
feel it is incredibly easy for any child to pose as older to create an account.”
– Father of an 8 yr old girl

Reporting

We asked parents how
easy they thought it would be to find ways to report unsuitable content or
behaviour, and how to block people from contacting you. Based on these answers,
Twitch
has received a positive rating for its reporting and blocking process.

Here are
some of the things parents said:

“Reporting was
easy, once you found the link to do this. There was no obvious 'report this
content' button.” – Father of 12 and 18 yr olds

“Reporting
should be much easier - blocking was fine.” – Father of a 14 yr old boy

We also asked young people who reviewed Twitch whether
they knew how to report and block users:

Privacy settings

We asked parents how easy it was to change the settings so
that your profile and account is private, and how easy it is to turn off
location settings. Based on these answers, Twitch has received a neutral rating
for its privacy settings.

Here are
some of the things parents said:

“It is very difficult
to navigate and needs to be much easier to find.” – Mother of 9 and 12 yr olds

We also asked young people who reviewed Twitch whether they knew how to change privacy and location settings:

70% said
they know how to change their privacy settings on this site.

62% said
they know how to change their location settings on this site.

Safety & support

We asked parents how easy it was to find out whether Twitch
has rules or community standards, and how easy it would be for a young person to find information about
keeping themselves safe on this platform. Based on these answers, Twitchhas received a neutral
rating for its safety and support.

Here are some of the things parents said:

“For kids, stuff like
this shouldn't be in menus; it should be much more upfront.” – Father of 5 and
9 yr olds

“It is something you
have to search for - rather than it being prevalent on the site.” – Mother of
17 yr old girl

Start a conversation with your child about Twitch

Having open, regular conversations with your child will enable you to really understand and explore the online world together, helping you to keep them safe online. Our tips and advice can help you start having these conversations.

If something’s upset you, I can help – whether it’s online or offline. Where else could you find help? Let’s look together.